Before the Battle
by redhead.witch
Summary: Standing in front of the sword on the hill overlooking Midgar, Tifa reached out her hand to graze the hilt of it. Could it be that, before the battle she was going to take part in, she would get her forgiveness?


_Disclaimer: I don't own either Final Fantasy VII or Dead Fantasy. _

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Tifa looked at the sword in front of her with furrowed brows. Why had she came to this place of all possible ones? She could think of more suitable areas than the old hill that overlooked Midgar. The church, for example. The little temple that all of them- Cloud, Vincent, herself and others from their small band- would go from time to time to clear their minds and get a moment of peace from the hectic lives all of them had. It was perfect place for that, full of the refreshing atmosphere that always could be felt around Aerith when she had still been alive and the part of their pack.

Maybe she was here because today she wasn't trying to clear her mind or relax.

She was here to get ready for the battle. For the pain she was sure was going to come. That's probably why _she _had suggested that place.

_She _needed her help, all Tifa could give from herself. And she was going to give it all when the time comes.

Because that's how Tifa worked. When asked for help, she would put her own life in the line in order to keep the promise she had once given to anyone. And the one she had given to _her _ was not something trivial. Too many lives, existences, were on the stake with this one.

Hesitantly, she reached out her hand to touch the hilt of the sword. What for, she didn't know. She knew she didn't have much time before her absence would be discovered in 7th Heaven by either the children or Cloud. She had left the note on his desk that tried to explain more or less about the current situation. He had known about her dreams of _her. _Just like herself, he hadn't taken them seriously at first. Then grow concerned. And then was absolutely against Tifa going on the quest she was asked by _her. _

That's why she had decided to leave at dawn, when her little family was still asleep. She hoped that she would come back alive. That she would see them all once again. To apologize for leaving them without proper explanation, without saying good bye. To make sure that they would forgive her.

When her hand touched the hilt, she felt sudden pull that she had definitely not expected to come. What she had found even more unexpected was the place she had found herself in.

It was the gate to the village she had once lived in. The sign on the right with the name written on it was visible. _Nibelheim. _She had felt something moving in her heart and she smiled just a little, looking at the village in front of her with nostalgia. It was good to see it still in one piece.

Her attention was suddenly taken away from the view in front when she felt the presence of someone behind her.

"Aerith?" she asked, not really knowing why she had expected her old friend to meet with her, but something in the scenery was familiar to her from Cloud's stories.

The chuckle behind her was definitely not Aerith. And the body behind her did not belong to the flower girl, what she had noticed only just now.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but it's just old me." The male voice answered.

It was somehow familiar, but Tifa at first could not place it to the right moment in her memories.

"I am going to get very disappointed with you if you don't remember me." The voice behind her teased and she could feel him move slightly. "And I even conjured this nice settings to meet with you."

She was silent for a moment, trying to remember. She closed her eyes.

'_Sephirot did this to you, right Tifa?'_

Her eyes snapped open.

'_I'm sorry. I won't ask you to forgive me… but… let me put an end to this' _

"Zack? Zack Fair?" she asked, unbelieving the situation she was currently in.

Of course she had remembered him. Once a year, in the anniversary of his death, she could reminiscent the last words she had said to him, the guilt overpowering her. But still, she could not find it in herself to go the place he had died to pay her respect for him.

"The one and only." He answered with a smile in his voice.

She made a move to turn around and look at him. She had to see it with her own eyes to believe. Feeling the movement, Zack pressed his back stronger to her own, indicating her that she should not move.

"I know that the temptation is strong, but you need to be pleased just with the sound of my voice." He said. "Looking is forbidden."

She stopped her movement and looked in front of herself, leaning slightly on the form behind her. How had she mistaken his strong build for Aerith's small form, she had no idea.

"Why… what are you doing here?" she asked, furrowing her brows.

She couldn't say that they were very close to each other. Aside from the few days they had spent together when she was guiding them around the mountains, they had not known each other.

"You should know the answer, sweetheart." Came the reply.

It only added to her confusion.

"What do you mean?"

She felt Zack shrugging his shoulder, bumping it lightly on her head by accident.

"You are the one who came to my memorial. So, what are we doing here, Tifa?" he asked, not unkindly. He sounded curious.

"I… I don't know." She answered honestly, slightly terrified that she would make him angry.

He hummed in answer and shifted again. There was a moment of comfortable silence, which Tifa enjoyed in a way. Feeling his solid and sure behind her, on which she could lean, make her somehow more self-confident and less worried about the upcoming future. What she had remembered about Zack the little fact that he could make everyone feel at ease in his company. It seems that it hadn't changed after his dead.

"He is going to worry about you, you know?" he asked out of blue, making her head snap and her muscles stiffen. She tried to turn her head out of habit. "Don't look."

"How do you know what I am going to do?" Tifa asked, looking in front of her again. Somehow, she knew what he was talking about.

When she squinted her eyes, she could see her old home in the distance.

"With death comes the privilege to know about a lot of things others don't know about." He answered. "And we know everything about _her _plan. Aerith was slightly against putting you into it, but well… _she _really insisted on your presence there. Makes me wonder… Just how strong have you become since our last meeting, huh?" he asked with slight amusement in his voice.

She smiled slightly.

"I am not the broken girl who was lying cut down in the reactor, Zack." She answered him.

She had regretted many times that she hadn't been stronger back then. Maybe it would be different. Maybe she could at least help someone. Maybe Cloud hadn't been pulled through all this trash, maybe Zack would be alive, maybe he could have saved Aerith.

There was so many 'maybes'…

"Yep, I can feel that. And I am talking only about behind." He answered, teasing her again, while leaning more on her form to prove his point.

She raised her brow.

"Are you feeling me up, Zack?" she asked with amusement in her voice.

"And what if I am?" he answered with a question and she could almost see the cocky smirk on his face.

"Then please stop. It's a strange feeling, to be felt up by a dead man. Almost like a necrophilia." She answered seriously, but her face broke into a slight smirk of her own.

She missed it from the time they had spent together. The innocent flirting always made her feel more at ease. At first it had been a little uncomfortable, but she quickly got used to it after learning that it was just his way to express himself.

She could feel his shoulders shaking with a laughter.

"Good one, Tifa." He admitted. "But really, try not to get yourself killed. I may not be able to come to your rescue again. Well, at least try to come to your rescue. After all, it was Cloud who had done the dirty job."

Tifa good mood died a little with the mention of the accident in the reactor and their last meeting.

'_I hate it…Shin-Ra, SOLDIERs, and you too…I hate it all!' _

"Zack?" she asked, leaning her head back so she could gaze in the crystal blue sky above them.

"Yeah?"

"I didn't mean what I said back then." She said.

The confusion could be almost physically felt from his body.

"Uh…. Ok? Don't worry, I know anyway that you would not mind to commit a little necrophilia act with me."

"I am not talking about that, Zack!" she almost shouted, fighting down the blush on her cheeks.

Over the years, she had grown a lot of patience while dealing with depressed and messed up Cloud and overly loud Avalanche members, but Zack still managed to bring her temperamental side in her.

"I am talking about Nibelheim." She explained, once again calm. "I didn't really meant it. I don't hate you. Never have. It's just… my whole life, everything I loved and had was suddenly taken away from me. I had seen my friends, my own father, lying there, in the pools of their blood." She stopped for a moment, fighting with the memories. She could feel Zack moving his head head slightly to the side, listening to her. "I had to find someone to blame, someone to take my anger on. And you came there… and everything in you represented Shin-Ra, your clothes, your eyes, your sword. Everything."

"Tifa…"

She didn't let him interrupt her.

"When I came around, I understood that it was unfair of me to say it to you. That you had nothing to do with Sephirot's craziness and the accident. You were just the pawn in their game, like others. Aside from blaming everything on you, I should be thanking you… for trying to make everything better, for saving Cloud. Instead of being a villain I had made you were the hero."

He was silent for a long moment and she was becoming self-conscious. What if he hadn't forgiven her? What if he would just walk away now, with no words, with no implication that he wasn't angry at her.

Her eyes widened when his back disappeared from behind her and she felt sudden fear that he had been gone when suddenly there were hands on her shoulders and a chin on top of her head.

"For someone as smart and beautiful as you are, Tifa, you have your moments of stupidity." He said finally.

She almost choked on her own spit. Here she was, apologizing and baring her soul in front of him, and he called her stupid?

"I have never taken your words seriously. Sure, I was slightly taken aback by them, but I could understand the reason behind them and the pain and suffering you felt. You have never needed my forgiveness, Tifa. It was all just in your own pretty head, silly." He added with a hint of smile in his voice.

Tifa blinked rapidly, trying to get the tears that suddenly gathered in her eyes in control. She felt just as if a stone was lifted from her shoulders. It was a relief, hearing that words. Knowing that she didn't need to feel the guilt anymore because she hadn't hurt him.

"Ne, Zack?" she asked again, her voice a little shaken.

"Yes?"

"If I hadn't said that… would you still go after Sephirot?" she asked, dreading his answer.

"Yes." There was not a single moment of hesitation in his answer. "I have this cursed hero complex, you know? I would just go there and get my ass kicked anyway."

She laughed softly, the tears now flowing down her cheeks silently. Before she could reach to wipe them away, a gloved hand had done it.

"Not crying, now. It doesn't suit you, Tifa." Zack chimed her.

"It's not fair, you know?" she said in a lighter tone, resting her back against his chest, just to make sure that he was really there and it wasn't any strange dream of hers.

For a moment, she had felt again as the her fifteen years old self.

"What do you mean?"

"You can look and I can't." she answered, small smile gracing her lips.

He chuckled.

"Another privilege of a dead man." He answered.

The silence fall upon them again, both looking at the village in front of their eyes. Even if Tifa knew that only ruins were in the place of Nibelheim in the real world, it was still refreshing to see it complete.

"Are you scared?" Zack's voice cut through the silence again.

Tifa smiled to herself. He could never stand the silence.

"Yes." She answered honestly, her face turning all serious again.

"Don't be. I know you are going to be all right." He said with strange sureness in his voice that she had not felt herself.

"Another privilege of the dead?" she asked, trying to sound calm and strong.

"Not really. I just believe in you. I heard that you can kick some asses pretty badly." He continued, strange amusement again in his voice. "Good thing you weren't like that before, considering all the teasing I had done to you."

"Thanks, Zack." She answered, smiling again a little.

"It's time for you to go, Tifa." He said suddenly, moving away a little.

With the last squeeze on her shoulders, he let go. She felt a sudden surge of panic.

"Wait!"

"Don't worry, Tifa. You won't be alone there. We will be watching over you, just in case. Not that you will need it, anyway." He said.

Wanting to at least catch a glance of him one last time, she turned around, looking into bright blue eyes and mischievous smirk that adorned his face. A hand grabbed her own for a split second before she was pulled away.

'_I will share my strength with you." _

When she opened her eyes, she was again on the hill, gripping the hilt of the Buster Sword.

She could hear the engine behind her and she turned around to look at Cloud.

She backed away when he came closer to her. She could see the confusion, worry and fear in his clear blue eyes.

"Trust me…" she whispered her last words to him before throwing herself off the cliff.

She knew that she would do her best to win the battle she was going to join. She was not going to give up, no matter what the future held for her.

She was not alone and that was the most important knowledge to her.

With the new strength feeling her body and her confidence rebuild, she reached her hand to touch the white feather that was falling from the sky.

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_A/N: After re-watching Dead Fantasy, I decided that the scene where Tifa was standing in front on Buster Sword really needed to be used. And since I love ZackxTifa pairing, I wrote this. Well, not really ZackxTifa story as I would like it to be, but well..._

_It may not be very good, but I'm facing the major writing block at the moment and it's all I would come up with, I really apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes.  
_

_Hope you enjoyed it anyway :3  
_


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